Redux
by wordsequalmight
Summary: What if Emily and Micah had met before the show? Rated a strong 'T' for language and implied sexual content (thought won't happen until later).


**Hello!**

**So, this is something I've been working on since last year... almost to the date (scary thought)! I really enjoyed this show, and I really liked the chemistry between Emily and Micah (in the show) and it got me thinking: what if they had met BEFORE she was an intern to his resident? I do realize that Micah is older than she is, by a significant amount, so I'm going to take a smidgen of creative license.**

**Emily is a sophomore in high school, so like 16 or so, and Micah is a sophomore in college.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable plot lines or characters. That all belongs to the producers/writers/actors of Emily Owens, M.D.**

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><p><em>High school sucks<em>, Emily Owens thought as she cleared her house and property of toilet paper one cool Saturday morning. Her mom wasn't awake yet, and therefore didn't know about the desecration to their house. And if Emily had it her way her mom would never find out.

She knew that the way she was being treated by the other kids wasn't normal. Even the nerds didn't get their houses toilet-papered every Friday night by the popular kids. They just got nicknames and managed to stay off the radar of the in-crowd. How did she get so lucky as to be picked on like this?

_Oh,_ Emily remembered. _I almost beat Cassandra Kopelson in the debate last year._

As Emily struggled with a particularly difficult piece of toilet paper, thoughts of her tormentor flew right out of her head as thoughts of the upcoming mathlete competition crept into her conscious.

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><p>Micah Barnes was bored.<p>

College was fun as a freshman, he decided. The parties, the dorm hall filled with new people, no parents, and easy, bullshit introductory classes… It's exciting. When you're a sophomore, however, the rules change. Suddenly the coursework gets harder, the people begin to attempt to eat your head so they can get a leg up, and students who are there one day never come back to class because they drop out due to the stress.

Micah knew going in that he was going to have to work harder than he had ever worked in his life just to achieve a passing grade in all of his classes. He got no sleep, he didn't have time for parties, and he almost never got out of the apartment unit he shared with his close friend AJ Aquino. Becoming a doctor - more specifically, getting the grades to enter premedical school - was no joke. It also probably wasn't the best idea to break up with the girl he'd been seeing for the past two months a couple of days before they had to go home for the winter break.

Actually, in his defense, Micah had just told the girl that he was really stressed, and asked her if she could back off for the last four days it took until they were done with school until the New Year. Hannah must have taken it as a break up, because he hadn't seen or heard from her since. But Micah wasn't going to lose even more sleep; over it; actually, it seemed like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He didn't need to figure out plans to see her, didn't need to meet the parents or anything like that. He could do whatever he wanted for a little over three (closer to four) weeks and didn't have to make adjustments for someone else.

Micah, therefore, didn't push the issue. However, it only took one day in Denver, Colorado and being back at home with his mother and kid-sister Liz for him to become incredibly bored. He could study, but this was break for a reason. No girlfriend meant no reason to go out. No AJ meant no reason to get into some kind of trouble. All of his friends from high school hadn't kept in touch and he wasn't going to suddenly out of nowhere approach his friend's old houses and ask if so-and-so was home to hang like he was a freshman in high school. No. Never again.

So Micah resigned himself to being bored and alone and stuck in the house. Until he happened to pass by his old high school and see what looked like a mathlete competition going on. Interest piqued as the former mathlete in him reared its head, Micah pulled into a free parking spot and walked through the doors of his old high school.

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><p>Emily was nervous. She always got nervous before a competition, but for some reason this one was different. It could have been that this competition was the last match before the State competition held at Dartmouth University next month. It also could have been that she hadn't been able to take down all of the toilet paper that had defaced her house before her best friend (read; pseudo-boyfriend) Alex had picked her up and taken her to the competition; she was worried her mother would see what was left.<p>

But, like always, she squashed the nerves in her stomach with steely resolve and followed her team onto the stage.

Emily would win this. She had to.

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><p>Micah sat in the (surprisingly large) audience towards the back of the auditorium, most likely because he was the last person allowed in the room before the crowd size became a fire hazard. He missed these things. The adrenaline rush was amazing: always being prepared for something to go wrong and having to compensate… yeah. Micah was definitely headed towards the right major.<p>

The teams made their way onto the stage and Micah's attention was drawn to the only girl on his alma mater's side. Actually, glancing over to the other team, he realized that she was the only girl in this competition. In his time, he hadn't met many girls in the mathlete circulation. It was just one of those clubs that was a) an old boy's club, and b) social suicide for girls. It was actually refreshing to see a girl not caring about what her peers thought and having the 'ball-very' to do something she wanted to do. He needed to meet her.

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><p>As the competition went on, Emily realized that she was kicking some major ass! And not just the normal ass-kicking she usually did during these things, but she was on fire. Her teammates, goodness knows what happened to them last night that made them so useless this morning. They had better be grateful that she was there to bail them out on every single question. It was pathetic, but hey, it made her look great.<p>

Emily also got a strange feeling on the back of her neck. From the start of the competition, she had a feeling that someone was watching her. It was almost a third sense; the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her stomach flipped and flopped around that had nothing to do with the actual nerves of the competition, and her desire not only to win, but to completely crush the competition was heightened.

And no, not just because she was on a roll.

_Whatever, _she thought. _It's probably nothing._

The deafening roar of the crowd filled his ears. He was still in awe; that girl kicked ass! And… she won respect for his alma mater. In a mathlete competition, the players needed to know their shit. So being the only girl between both teams? That was impressive. Or maybe he had just been hanging around the wrong types of girls. Either way, he needed to find her.

The hallways were crowded, but because he had come in so late he was in prime position to move out before he was stampeded by a crowd of parents. Micah almost ran out of the auditorium and to the competitor corridor so he could grab her before anyone else could occupy her attention. He didn't know why his caveman instincts decided to come out only with this nameless girl, but whatever.

There! She was walking out with her team. She stopped to get a drink at the water fountain while her friends were barraged with parental gratitude. Micah made his way next to her, and began to speak.

"Hello."

Emily was startled. She could have sworn some deep, masculine voice had greeted her. It was so surprising to her that she accidentally spit out water (into the fountain, of course). Her face turned scarlet; it was so like her to become a completely spastic when surprised – or even approached by a member of the opposite sex.

Quickly holding an arm up to her sleeve, Emily turned around… only to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Micah Barnes?"

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the beginning!<strong>

**Please review if you'd like to see this continue. Right now, I'm planning on charting their progress from now until he goes to med school, with a possible sequel that would begin around where Episode 1 in the show begins.**

**No flames, please! Only constructive criticism allowed.**

**Hope everyone has a fantastic and safe Thanksgiving!**


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